Al - The raw AMSR2 data comes from JAXA, but the University of Hamburg process it differently to the Japanese National Institute of Polar Research when calculating sea ice concentration. The former uses the "ARTIST sea ice" algorithm (ASI for short). The latter is commonly referred to as "JAXA extent", and uses the NASA "bootstrap" algorithm.

Another month has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: A new year, a new trend line, and if you watch the above graph closely, you'll see how it dips right ...

AMSR2 derived Arctic sea ice extent is still decreasing following the recent cyclone:
However Arctic sea ice area has started to increase once again:
http://GreatWhiteCon.info/2018/02/facts-about-the-arctic-in-february-2018/#Feb-10
Meanwhile global sea ice extent is most certainly in "lowest in the satellite era" territory:

Another month has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: A new year, a new trend line, and if you watch the above graph closely, you'll see how it dips right ...

Another month has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: A new year, a new trend line, and if you watch the above graph closely, you'll see how it dips right ...

Another month has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: Volume increases for December in the last 10 years aren't all that far apart, ranging from 3500 to 40...

Rain is forecast for Svalbard once again, as are giant waves in the Fram Strait:
http://GreatWhiteCon.info/2018/02/the-february-2018-fram-strait-cyclones/
The sea ice on the Arctic is in for a bit of a battering tomorrow, and for some time to come too!

Another month has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: Volume increases for December in the last 10 years aren't all that far apart, ranging from 3500 to 40...

The official PIOMAS January data have not yet been released, but Wipneus has worked his usual magic on the gridded thickness numbers:
http://GreatWhiteCon.info/2018/02/facts-about-the-arctic-in-february-2018/
Estimated from the thickness data, the latest value is from 31st of January: 17.57 [1000 km3], which is the second lowest value for that day, 2017 is lowest by a rather large margin at 16.16 [1000 km3].

Another month has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: Volume increases for December in the last 10 years aren't all that far apart, ranging from 3500 to 40...

Perhaps marginally more on topic?
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/oymyakon-world-coldest-village-russia-siberia-freezing-temperatures-cold-sub-zero-a8161371.html
Oymyakon is a village in the Russian region of Yakutia.
It’s named after the Oymyakon River, which literally translates to mean: “unfrozen patch of water; place where fish spend the winter.”
The digital thermometer in the village was installed last year to appeal to tourists.
However, as temperatures dwindled to -62C, the thermometer broke down because it was too cold.
The coldest temperature ever recorded in a permanently inhabited area was -68C in Oymyakon in 1933.

Another month has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: Volume increases for December in the last 10 years aren't all that far apart, ranging from 3500 to 40...

This is news too Wayne!
Storm Friederike has been causing havoc and fatalities across Europe:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-42731505
Eight people including two firefighters have been killed in storm-related accidents as hurricane-strength winds tear across northern Europe.
Both firefighters were helping with clean-up efforts in Germany when they died.
Many of those killed, in the Netherlands and in Germany, were hit by falling trees and debris. One died in a collision when his van was blown on to the other side of the road.
The storm has now crossed to Poland.
Facing gusts of up to 140km/h (90mph), Germany's train operator Deutsche Bahn cancelled all long-distance services for the rest of Thursday.
Many regional services were also cancelled.
Flights at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam - one of the busiest in Europe - were briefly suspended and two of its three departure halls were closed after roof plates were blown off the terminal building.

Another month has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: Volume increases for December in the last 10 years aren't all that far apart, ranging from 3500 to 40...

There are currently two powerful cyclones off Greenland, pumping heat and moisture northwards from a long way south and generating some very large waves in the Fram Strait:
http://GreatWhiteCon.info/2018/01/the-january-2018-fram-strait-cyclones/
There are also currently severe weather warnings in place for Svalbard for both rain and avalanches.
In the middle of January.

Another month has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: Volume increases for December in the last 10 years aren't all that far apart, ranging from 3500 to 40...

Thanks Wayne,
See also this new N-ICE2015 paper which covers temperature profiles and salinity of Arctic sea ice snow cover, amongst other things:
"CO2 flux over young and snow-covered Arctic sea ice in winter and spring"
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2017-521
"We measured CO2 fluxes along with sea ice and snow physical and chemical properties over first-year and young sea ice north of Svalbard in the Arctic ice pack. Our results suggest that young thin snow-free ice, with or without frost flowers, is a source of atmospheric CO₂ due to the high pCO2 and salinity and relatively high sea ice temperature. Although the potential CO₂ flux through the sea-ice surface decreased due to the presence of snow, snow surface still presents a modest CO₂ source to the atmosphere for low snow density and shallow depth situations. The highest ice to air fluxes were observed over thin young sea ice formed in leads. During N-ICE2015 the ice pack was dynamic, and formation of open water was associated with storms, where new ice was formed. Open leads and storm periods were important for air-to-sea CO₂ fluxes (Fransson et al., 2017), due to undersaturation of the surface waters, while the subsequent ice growth in these leads becomes important for the ice-to-air CO₂ fluxes in winter due to the fact that the flux from young ice is an order of magnitude larger than from snow-covered first-year ice."

Another month has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: Volume increases for December in the last 10 years aren't all that far apart, ranging from 3500 to 40...

Wipneus has issued his PIOMAS mid month update:
http://GreatWhiteCon.info/2017/12/the-festive-season-in-the-arctic/#Dec-20
There's also a new sea ice age paper from Pierre Rampal et al.
That one's for January 1st 2016.

Another month has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: A month of somewhat slowing extent increases has been reflected in the PIOMAS sea ice volume model ou...

Long time no see Wayne. The IMB buoy page has just been updated. There are still no numbers available for 2017C & D, but after floating in its hole for a bit 2017B is firmly fixed once again:
http://GreatWhiteCon.info/resources/ice-mass-balance-buoys/winter-201718-imb-buoys/#2017B
No sun angle issues at this time of year!

Another month has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: A month of somewhat slowing extent increases has been reflected in the PIOMAS sea ice volume model ou...

Rob - Whilst I do appreciate that people publicly peddling porky pies do need to be publicly corrected, do you think it might be possible to try and stick to the Arctic/Antarctic theme in here?
For much more on the carbon intensity of the UK grid see for example:
http://www.V2G.co.uk/tag/carbon-intensity/

Another month has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: A month of somewhat slowing extent increases has been reflected in the PIOMAS sea ice volume model ou...

Jim - At the risk of repeating myself, I have a blog devoted to that sort of thing.
Would you by any chance care to have a rant about the concept of "mobility as a service" and "electric car clubs"? If so please feel free to go to:
http://www.V2G.co.uk/2017/09/an-electric-car-club-for-camelford/
If you don’t possess a car you’re more likely to indulge in healthier alternatives such as walking or cycling for short journeys.

Another month has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: A month of somewhat slowing extent increases has been reflected in the PIOMAS sea ice volume model ou...

AJbT - There you have it. If you'd like to discuss the "recycling" of EV battery packs further perhaps we might adjourn to my "professional" blog? How about here for starters?
http://www.V2G.co.uk/2016/12/nissan-unveil-solar-pv-integrated-static-xstorage-for-uk/

Another month has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: A month of somewhat slowing extent increases has been reflected in the PIOMAS sea ice volume model ou...

AJbT - At the risk of drifting even further off topic, I was discussing that very issue with Nissan's Francisco Carranza, amongst others, not so very long ago:
https://twitter.com/V2gUK/status/935571429441105922
According to Francisco LEAF EV batteries can first be "recycled" into static battery storage. When they degrade further virtually all the materials can be recycled and reused.
Others didn't seem quite so confident of that:
http://www.g-pbatt.co.uk/recycle.html

Another month has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: A month of somewhat slowing extent increases has been reflected in the PIOMAS sea ice volume model ou...

AJbT - It would have been helpful if the Grauniad had provided a link to the ASA ruling. Here it is:
https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/bmw--uk--ltd-a17-389311.html
Here too is an English language overview of a recent French report on EV v ICE lifetime emissions:
https://europeanclimate.org/le-vehicule-electrique-dans-la-transition-ecologique-en-france/
The analysis shows today, the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of a small Battery Electric Vehicle (e.g. ZOE – 22 kWh) is 70% less than the GWP of a small gasoline car. The GWP of a large BEV is 57% less than the GWP of large diesel car. In 2030, the gap between Internal Combustion Engines vehicles and Battery Electric Vehicles is reduced due to the mild-hybridization of ICE vehicles but BEVs still have less lifecycle emissions.
Recycling is an important element to reduce life-cycle impacts of large BEVs and should be incentivized. On average, a 30% increase of the battery recycling mass rate leads to a 14% decrease of the overall EV’s GWP.

Another month has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: A month of somewhat slowing extent increases has been reflected in the PIOMAS sea ice volume model ou...

Merry Xmas Neven, and all at the Arctic Sea Ice Blog!
Santa's secret summer swimming pool has frozen over once again, so here's my own look at the forthcoming festive season in the Arctic:
"The 2017/18 Festive Season in the Arctic"
Your overview is much more comprehensive than mine, and I too had noticed "the large area of pale blue open ocean still visible in the Chukchi Sea".
However one interesting piece of the Arctic puzzle isn't shown above as yet. The University of Bremen's latest SMOS thickness map:
""

Another month has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: A month of somewhat slowing extent increases has been reflected in the PIOMAS sea ice volume model ou...

ATTENTION: For the time being, the Arctic Sea Ice Forum is inaccessible due to a possible hack. I'll post an update once it's on-line again. Edit: It was a false positive, no hack, ASIF is back up again. ADDENDUM 9.17.2017: If people have trouble logging onto the ASIF, read this thread. --- Anot...

ATTENTION: For the time being, the Arctic Sea Ice Forum is inaccessible due to a possible hack. I'll post an update once it's on-line again. Edit: It was a false positive, no hack, ASIF is back up again. ADDENDUM 9.17.2017: If people have trouble logging onto the ASIF, read this thread. --- Anot...

Hans - You may be interested in this?
http://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,1834.msg125795.html#msg125795
There's little support for the polynya occurring every year, which restricts the space of possible explanations.

Here's another guest blog, sent to me by Lewis Clark, who is also a commenter on the Arctic Sea Ice Forum. Lewis describes this year's melting season and how several forecasts have played out in relation to it. I like the term 'thin ice age'. Thin ice makes it more difficult to rely on conventio...

Here's a blog post I just read on Andreas Muenchow's Icy Seas blog: Is Petermann Gletscher Breaking Apart this Summer? I am disturbed by new ocean data from Greenland every morning before breakfast these days. In 2015 we built a station that probes the ocean below Petermann Gletscher every hou...

Here's another guest blog, sent to me by Lewis Clark, who is also a commenter on the Arctic Sea Ice Forum. Lewis describes this year's melting season and how several forecasts have played out in relation to it. I like the term 'thin ice age'. Thin ice makes it more difficult to rely on conventio...

A very interesting winter, followed by a very interesting summer! And the show's not over until the fat lady sings.
I'm not about to make such a prediction, but I wonder if Lewis and/or Neven would care to predict the value (and date?) of the summer 2017 minimum for one or more Arctic sea ice metrics?
Here's some more suggestions from the ASIF:
http://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,2126.0.html

Here's another guest blog, sent to me by Lewis Clark, who is also a commenter on the Arctic Sea Ice Forum. Lewis describes this year's melting season and how several forecasts have played out in relation to it. I like the term 'thin ice age'. Thin ice makes it more difficult to rely on conventio...

Whatever criterion you choose to use, I think it's now just about safe to say that the Northern Sea Route is "open":
http://GreatWhiteCon.info/2017/08/the-northern-sea-route-in-2017/#Aug-19
The Northwest Passage isn't quite there yet. IMHO!

Another month has passed and so here is the updated Arctic sea ice volume graph as calculated by the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) at the Polar Science Center: Given the ideal weather for ice retention during July, it is no surprise that July 2017 showed the se...